State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Purchases 2,308 Shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury increased its position in shares of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRTS) by 52.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,716 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 2,308 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury owned 0.10% of Virtus Investment Partners worth $1,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VRTS. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Virtus Investment Partners by 170.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 200 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Virtus Investment Partners in the fourth quarter valued at $75,000. KBC Group NV grew its position in Virtus Investment Partners by 61.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 395 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $87,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Virtus Investment Partners in the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in Virtus Investment Partners during the 4th quarter worth about $209,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VRTS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Virtus Investment Partners from $211.00 to $198.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays set a $150.00 price objective on Virtus Investment Partners and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $220.00 to $158.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Virtus Investment Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Virtus Investment Partners from $216.00 to $211.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $179.25.

Virtus Investment Partners Stock Up 0.1 %

VRTS opened at $154.39 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.58. Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.18 and a 1-year high of $252.82. The stock has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 9.14 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a current ratio of 11.86, a quick ratio of 11.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The closed-end fund reported $5.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.68 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $217.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $201.99 million. Virtus Investment Partners had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 21.56%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.41 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. will post 27.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Virtus Investment Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $2.25 per share. This represents a $9.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Virtus Investment Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.41%.

About Virtus Investment Partners

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to individual and institutional clients. It launches separate client focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm launches equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds for its clients.